Glorious
by Nuttycheychey
Summary: Abel is reminiscent of his lost Lilith. With her partner acting stranger than usual, Esther begins the trek to discovering her dear friend's past for herself and learning about the woman who helped shape him into the man he is now. (Currently rated T for upcoming blood and violence, rating may change for future content.)
1. Chapter 1

_ "__Abel," Lilith sighed softly, taking in the blood-streaked face and uniform of her mate and partner. She grabbed a cloth and gently pressed it just under his nose, ignoring the feral hiss of pain it elicited. "Was anyone else hurt?"_

_"__No," Abel admitted softly, looking at the white washed wall just over her shoulder. "I knew you'd be upset so I let them hit me this time. And I didn't start it, they were the ones being assholes."_

_The woman smiled, continuing to clean his face of the blood. "You could have fought back, I won't be angry with you protecting yourself."_

_"__I know. But I still would have hurt someone, and then you'd have more work to do." He winced as a delicate hand lifted his chin to clean a streak of blood making its way down the column of his throat._

_"__Well, the good news is that your nanomachines have already begun repairing the damage, but once I finish you'll need to change your uniform and have it washed immediately so it doesn't stain."_

_Abel blinked softly, winter eyes adjusting to look at her, taken captive by her sweet, warm golden eyes framed by a pair of golden earrings and silken strands of red. When she began to pull away, his hand reached to caress her cheek with a softness reserved for her, pale skin sharply contrasting with her heavenly bronze. He leaned close and pressed his lips to hers, ignoring the small sound of protest she made that without a doubt meant he was smearing her lipstick._

_It wasn't until she lightly smacked his arm that Abel pulled back with a laugh, wipping the blue lipstick on his sleeve as Lilith regained her breath and promptly scolded him for such acts while both were still on duty and for the getting blood on her own newly cleaned uniform._

White gloved fingers skimmed the shinning surface of the photo's cover,. Really, it was a wonder that such a relic of the past, something so trivial and delicately built, had managed to survive nearly 1,000 years. With a soft smile aimed at the two females standing beside him, Abel placed the photo on his bedside table and a copy in his case, closing it with a set of soft clicks. "Wish me luck, you two."

"Father?"

"Father Abel Nightroad, the train is scheduled to depart in seventy-eight point two minutes."

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Abel heaved his case off the small bed and hauled it out of the room with him, practically tripping over his feet as he finally entered the hall and joined his partners.

In times like this, it was often unclear who was in charge and who was the babysitter. Tres was often assigned to Abel to keep him out of everyone else's hair and to maintain that nothing went wrong during the missions and that Abel didn't spend all the money and end up stranded as he usually did when on his own (even then, with Tres keeping track of him, they had both ended up stranded because of Abel's loose purse strings.) As for Esther, her presence was partially to help and gain experience with field work and dealing with her eccentric fellow AX members (as well as keep the boys in line when needed.)

After boarding and settling in, Esther turned to Abel in curiosity.

"What were you doing in your room that was taking so long?" She covered her mouth with slim fingers, giving him a skeptical look as she muttered. "You weren't doing anything gross, were you?"

Abel jumped with a start, giving her a flushed look of panic, "o-of course not! Why would you even think something like that?!"

"Pervert," Esther looked away from him, though that single word held a small hint of amusement at his reaction.

The Priest have the back of her head a look that was partially annoyed and partially amused before he looked out the window of the train and watched the scenery go by with the smile firmly in place.


	2. Chapter 2

Steam rose in large puffs of white as the train squealed and eased to a halt, allowing its passengers to board and un-board while a quick maintenance and refueling was performed. Lines of people made their way in and out of the exits after grabbing their carryon bags to retrieve the rest of their luggage.

Toward the end of the line, two Vatican Priests and a Sister exited the train, Esther huffing as Abel stepped onto the main platform with a giddy laugh, throwing his arms out. "Prague~ It's so beautiful~" Abel began to spin, taking in the sights around them with a delighted grin.

"Prague is an ancient city dating back to the Paleolithic era. It has been well preserved from pre-Armageddon times until now, featuring hundreds of tourist sights and attractions. The large crowds have also served as an irresistible temptation to many vampires. Recently, rogue vampires have been smuggling large sums of opium into the city and committing mass crimes. Our assignment is to-"

"Father, are you listening?" Esther snapped her attention away from Father Tres to Abel.

The Priest was currently flushed with excitement, grinning at a giggling, busty woman. With a sound of exasperation, Esther caught his pony tail and yanked him away, ignoring his protests.

"M-miss Esther! Miss Esther that hurts! You're pulling my hair out of my skull!"

"Hair grows back," Esther muttered before dumping the sullen priest at Tres's feet. "Sorry, Tres. Please continue from where you left off."

Tres did so immediately and without regard to Father Nightroad's antics, "our assignment is to investigate the cause of the most recent disturbances in a small town twenty five miles north of here."

Abel stood, brushing off his sleeves with a buoyant grin, struggling a moment to pick a piece of dust off one sleeve. "In which case, let's waste no time in settling in and getting to work!"

"Father Nightroad, Cardinal Sforza has strongly advised against using all funds carelessly on this trip and warns that you may end up stranded again due to your carelessness."

The other flinched, his poised air suddenly dissipating at the reminder. "I get it!"

Esther said nothing, but walked toward the main exit of the station with a soft sigh. Working with Father Nightroad was always a pain, especially when he was almost constantly screeching at Tres for one thing or another, when he wasn't consuming ten times his weight in food, spiking his blood sugars, admiring a woman, or screwing up big time. Though recently, she'd come to suspect this was really more to it than just what she observed.

They walked with Esther leading, keeping Abel reeled in while Tres followed silently, giving directions when he judged necessary until they were out of the station and took a cab to their hotel in the small town. While Tres finished checking in, the others went to their assigned room and Abel immediately lit up, dropping his cases by the door.

"Finally," he declared and ran to one of the beds, flopping on it with a soft "fwump" and loud metallic protest from the bed frame. "Ah, I'm so tired!"

"You slept for half the train ride here," Esther nudged the other's case out of the way with her foot then set her own on another bed. "One would think that with the amount of sugar you take in your tea you'd have all the energy in the world. Or at least a severe heart attack."

"I'm fit as can be! But I'm also lazy and love food. Especially sweets." Abel waved her off, unwilling to leave the almost comfortable bed. "It's the syrup in my veins, I tell you."

While he continued to prattle on, Esther took the case Abel dropped by the door and started taking it to him, more to get it out of Tres's way than to benefit Father Nightroad in any way. Part way to his bed the toe of her boot caught on a floor board and she gave a loud yelp, falling with a loud thud.

Abel immediately jumped off the bed and ran to her side; kneeling and awkwardly helping her sit up so he could make sure she was alright. The clothes and personal items in his case had scattered all over the room and lay strewn around him.

"Esther! Are you alright?"

The girl gave a groan and nodded, "I think we should report that floorboard," she glared at said object, pouting a little and drawing a chuckle from Abel.

"Come on," he helped her to her feet then escorted her to her bed. "I'll clean up, probably about time I did something since coming here, right?"

Esther's pout turned into a smirk as the priest started to pick up the various items of clothing. Spotting one at the foot of her bed he might miss, she picked it up, only to pause at what lay beneath it. She carefully retrieved the item, looking it over with a creased forehead. "Uh, Father? What's this?" She held up the picture frame.

Abel immediately dropped the items he'd collected on his bed and ran to snatch it from Esther's hand. "Ah! You . . . That . . ." He appeared rather lost for a moment before relenting. "They're old companions of mine. From a long, long time ago."

"What happened?"

Abel shrugged, his hand running over the miraculously still intact glass, "a lot of stuff. We went our separate ways and I haven't seen or heard from them since. It's probably for the better." He dropped the picture in his bag then covered it with his clothing. "Last time we were together . . . Things didn't end well. It's best we leave things like they are and just keep going forward."

The abruptly somber look felt almost unnerving to Esther, she was about to ask again, but the tone of his voice had her halting. Father Nightroad looked upset enough, she didn't need to add fuel to something that could easily turn into a fight.

As she struggled to find something to change the subject and cheer him up, the door opened again and Tres stepped in. "Sister Esther Blanchett, Father Abel Nightroad, a commotion was heard thirty point eight seconds ago, explanation requested."

"Ah, I tripped," Abel rubbed the back of his head. "I'm alright, Tres. One of the floor boards was sticking up and I didn't see it. We should probably inform the staff before we leave so they can fix it." He was immediately on his feet, making a show of dusting himself off. "Now, now, let's get some rest before we set out tomorrow! I don't know about you two, but I am exhausted from that long trip! The sooner we can finish here and return to the Vatican the better!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Remind me why we have to share a room?"

"Oh, the train tickets were more expensive than originally anticipated, so we could only afford the one room and still have enough money for food." Abel fiddled with a metal piece on his sleeve, attempting to shine the item with his thumb though his hard work only proved to smudge the silver and stain it with oil and finger prints. He quickly gave up and rubbed it with the other sleeve, though that did little better than his thumb.

"Shouldn't we be going soon?" Esther looked out the window and into the well-lit streets.

Shops were beginning to close, street merchants packing their wares away and heading off toward their homes. The sun was nearly set, crawling behind the nearby mountains to join the townspeople in their rest. Smoke billowed from chimneys and began to collect in a faint haze over the city that added to the sun's dying glow.

"A few more minutes, we'll step out at twilight and have a look around. The reports say that the attacks take place between then and sun up. It's imperative that we don't slip up, the church is beginning to lose an important foothold here."

"What exactly is going on in this city? I read the report and our instructions but they weren't exactly clear."

The priest joined her in glancing out the window from his place on his bed. "We don't have a full grasp of the situation, but someone's been stealing children. According to the reports it's been going on for a while, but they were all orphans or children abandoned by the town so no one bothered looking for them. But about a month ago, a child of a shop owner was reported missing. The next week, another child had been stolen from their bed and another the next day. There are never any signs of struggle and the windows are always locked, it's like the children willingly got up and walked out of their homes."

"And we're here to find out why."

"Pretty much," Abel grabbed his coat and stood, beginning to pace in silent thought. "People have begun to flee the city for fear of losing their children, if this keeps up the place will become a ghost town in no time. Whatever is stealing the children might even go for the adults if desperate enough."

"They could be running away."

"No," Abel shook his head, holding his chin while he answered her. "The only things reported missing are the children themselves, sometimes a stuffed toy, but nothing else. I'm sure a child would have at least a little sense to grab some shoes or food or even a flashlight so they could see where they're going. But nothing's ever missing and they seem to just vanish into thin air, no tracks or anything!"

"So the plan is to wander around all night until we find what or whoever is causing the children to leave their homes." At Abel's nod, Esther tried to hold back a groan with minimal success. "I can already see many things going wrong with this."

"You can list them later, the sun has moved behind the mountains, time to go." Abel removed his peacekeeper revolver from inside his inner coat pocket and checked the cylinder for six shots. He replaced the gun then checked another pocket for a small packet of extra rounds and nodded, heading out once Esther had done the same to her sawed shotgun.

Upon seeing her guests heading for the door, the manager waved her hands frantically and stepped in front of them with her back to the door. "You mustn't go outside this late! Bad things happen when the sun goes down, return to your rooms."

Abel smiled at her; one of the smiles filled with understanding and compassion he often used to comfort others, and gently guided her away from the door. "We will be fine. God is on our side and he will not allow unnecessary harm to befall us." With the woman temporarily placated, Esther, Abel, and Tres stepped out into the quickly darkening streets.

"Here," Abel handed Esther a torch. "You'll need this more than Tres and I."

"Tres has night vision," though she wasn't sure of it the question came out a statement. "So why don't you need it?"

The crusnik's calming smile quickly turned into a confident smirk as he pushed his glasses up with his middle finger. The finger then skimmed over the top of his frames, pushing aside silver strands until it rested on the right arm. His frames began to emit a very soft green glow and the smirk turned to an amused grin. "I had Professor upgrade my glasses the last time I was in Rome! Since I broke another pair and all," he shrugged. "It isn't the most effective method, but it works well enough that I can see."

Of course, the crusnik nano-machines made him more than capable of seeing in the dark without any aid, but it was important to keep up appearances; especially for Esther. If he casually disregarded minor details like an inability to see in the dark or a duller sense of smell then it would raise suspicions. With a stranger it was fine, seeing as how they'd never see him again, and the rest of the AX officers were already aware of these facts. Esther, however, was at a greater risk of learning and thus being terrified of him; that wouldn't exactly be a high point in his life story.

"Is this the first time you're working with them?"

Abel shook his head, looking down both sides of the street while forming an attack plan. "I've had glasses like these before so I'm used to them, it's just that the Professor's had time to improve and now I can see better with them." He pointed down the right side of the road, "Tres, you go that way, Esther and I will go the opposite direction. Keep communication lines open in case of an emergency or if we see something suspicious."

"Affirmative; Father Abel Nightroad, remember to activate your tracking unit."

"Yeah, yeah," the priest said in a huff, going to the cuff earing on his left ear and fumbling with the buttons. An awful screech filled the air that had the two humans cringing until Abel managed to find the problem and fix the earpiece. "Sorry, Esther! I pressed the wrong button!" To his credit, at least he had the decency to blush before Esther grabbed him by the collar and dragged him down the street.

"Honestly," she huffed, "father, I think you need to relearn how to use your equipment!"

Abel bit his lip to keep from laughing or making any unsavory comments, though her suggestion did little to quell the blush. "It's a little hard when you're always working," he muttered, "little to no time for those sort of things."

"Come on," Esther gave his collar a tug and Abel let out a loud yelp, losing his balance momentarily until the sister released his collar so he could walk properly. "Now behave yourself."

_"Do you understand me, Abel?"_

_"Buh?" The teen looked up, his mouth hanging open with a fork pausing half way between his plate and mouth. A pea he'd managed to balance between the prongs rocked between sides before falling back onto his plate and he glanced at it in dismay before looking back up at Lilith._

_"You need to behave yourself," she shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, a clear sign that she was losing her patience. Abel had seen that look a lot lately, and normally he or Seth were at the epicenter of it, sometimes Cane as well if it was a really good one._

_"Sorry?" He gave her a feeble smile, inwardly cringing when the woman's back straightened. He was in for a good scolding whenever she did that. Of course she never said or did anything harsh; her lectures were always centered around their best interests. She hated seeing them fight and act recklessly; of course she never lost her temper over it and tried to remain as calm and understanding as she was able._

_"I heard what happened today while you and Cain were repairing the outer shell of the ship. You could have been killed, Abel!"_

_"Oh, that," he looked away, nervously scratching the back of his head._

_Lilith's hand came down firmly on Abel's shoulder, giving him an abruptly squeeze that elicited a small yelp. "I mean it, Abel! You need to behave! What would even compel you to consider doing a thing like that?!"_

_"Well, I couldn't reach the panel, so I had to improvise."_

"By unhooking your safety cable?!"

_Abel winced at the sudden volume of her voice, drawing back a little as he looked away. "Actually my safety cable broke, that's why I couldn't reach and had to unhook the backup cable. I had Cain watching me so I would be alright and could grab me and pull me in if something went wrong." It wasn't the most dangerous thing he'd ever done, just the most stupid one to date. At least that Lilith knew about. Speaking of, "how'd you even learn about that?"_

_"There have been rumors going around, someone saw you on the security monitors," she squeezed his shoulder hard enough to make him wince. "You have to swear never to never pull that kind of stunt again!"_

_He blinked, stunned, before giving her one of his charming everything-will-be-okay smiles and covered her hand. "I promise, Lilith. I'll be more careful in the future."_

"Father? _Father?"_

The Priest shook his head violently, looking around to find himself standing in the center of the street with an impatient Esther a few feet ahead of him. "Father Nightroad, what's wrong?"

"Ah, n-nothing," he waved her off and chased after her. "Just got caught up thinking about something is all."


	4. Chapter 4

The sun had set not long ago and the night began to creep across the sky, stretching out to grab the last rays of light in the eternal chase that Abel had witnessed them play for almost a thousand years. The possibility that they wouldn't be safe for much longer once that dark hand managed to capture the remaining light had the two humans walking closely together, side by side.

Despite the oppressing possibility of danger that was closing in on them Abel continued to walk down the street as if everything was normal, long arms swinging carelessly while he silently hummed an odd tune to himself, turning his head from side to side. The act made him appear laughable, but the Crusnik was very much in focus. Tilting his head like he was allowed him to better listen to his surroundings, even if there were no noises out of the ordinary; people settling in for the night, stray and feral animals scampering home with the last bits of food they'd scavenged for the day, a city dying down for the monsters who would come out to play.

Esther gave a tiny huff, but did nothing to stop him and instead made to take a right turn to investigate an alley way when Abel caught her arm and stopped her.

"Best not do that. There's nothing down that way but the main housing district."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Esther whispered back. "That's where we should find whatever's luring the children out."

Abel shook his head and continued down the street with Esther chasing after him. "It's too populated, monitored by city police and private guards, and well-lit; too easy to be seen and caught. If you don't want to be seen, what do you do?"

"Avoid people and avoid being seen." Esther hated to admit that he was right. A place specifically well-built would also have people above the commonwealth and poverty, and if one of their children were to go missing it would draw even more attention.

"Sometimes, to catch criminals you need to . . ." Abel trailed off and froze in the middle of the street, head turning and tilting to better hear. He made a brief motion with his hand for Esther to stay quiet when she tried to open her mouth in question.

The Priest waited until he was sure Esther could hear it too then looked at her.

"Singing . . ."

Abel nodded then jerked his head in the direction of the voice before running off.

"Tres. Esther and I may have found something, we're heading to investigate it; standby."

"_Affirmative." _The monotone voice answered over the ear pieces then went silent again.

Abel patted the he hidden pocket inside his cape that held his percussion revolver to make sure it was secure while he ran and abruptly skidded to a halt when the singing stopped. He looked around frantically, straining to hear anything out of the ordinary, his ears giving an odd twitch when he did. "This way." He waved for Esther to follow then took off again, listening as closely as he could.

Regardless of how silent the city was at night, it always appeared to become much louder when you were trying to focus on a single noise, and the sounds accompanying their rush weren't helping at all. In the end, though they'd followed the noises diligently they turned up empty handed.

Abel leaned against a wall, making a small show of running a hand through his bangs and panting while Esther put her hands on her knees and tried looking around.

"Unbelievable," the red head rasped. "All that and we still couldn't find anything." She straightened and took a quick moment to look around, "where are we?"

"It looks like the ghetto." Abel responded offhandedly while straining to hear the voice again. He caught a sound, but not singing, movement; small and subtle movement between the buildings to his right.

Cautiously, he stepped toward the petite space and poked his head inside while hugging the wall. After a moment of complete silence he shook his head and stepped into full view. The noise was probably an animal and nothing more.

He heaved a sigh and turned around to return to Esther's side, biting his lower lip as he tried listening again. At this point it felt useless; half the night was gone and following the source had led to a goose-chase through the city.

The priest was just about to suggest they move on when he abruptly felt something hard smack the back of his skull with a stomach churning crack. He lurched forward from the force and let out a yelp while holding the back of his head protectively and falling to his knees.

"Father!" And just like that, Esther was immediately at his side and ready to aid him with his offender. She helped him stand and together their eyes locked on the wrongdoer, they stood there in a moment of dazed silence at the sight.

Abel's attacker stood with a wooden pole in their hands, aimed like a batter waiting for a pitch. A barely visible crack ran through the center of the pole and didn't quite reach the end. The mock weapon couldn't have appeared more menacing even if it weren't wielded by a young girl, no older than eleven or twelve.

"Back off, vamps! I ain't afraid of yuh!" She waved the stick and Abel yelped again as he stepped back.

"A kid?"

The child glared at Esther and stiffened, holding the bat higher. "I ain't no kid, missy! I'm an adult an' if yuh don't leave me alone I'll shove this pole down yer throat!"

"Such galling manners!" Abel bewailed. "No respect for your elders or consideration for visitors!"

Esther sighed, apparently the task of taming this feral child fell on her. The nun knelt, effectively stripping Abel of his cover in the process, and gave her best smile. "We aren't vampires, I promise. My name's Sister Esther Blanchett. And this . . . This man is a toad."

"Esther!" He let out a pitiful whine. "You could have at least called me '_Father_ Toad'." He let out another noise, bemoaning the very idea that he was so disrespected by his colleague that she would purposefully forgo _some _kind of title or importance.

The child looked amused by Abel's display and lowered the stick when she decided that he wasn't much of a threat, the result Esther desired.

"Father Nightroad and I are visitors from Rome. May I ask who you are?"

The girl looked at them from behind short dirty brown bangs, black eyes still filled with suspicion and reluctance to speak while she evaluated the uninvited guests. With a small click of her tongue she fully lowered the stick and started holding it like a cane, standing before them without a care as she did.

"Name's Shigure. And since we're playing questions here, why're yuh in my neighborhood? Ain't no one what comes here less they got business."

"We heard strange noises." Abel interjected, seeming to regain some courage now that the stick been all but dropped and forgotten. "We were making our way back to our hotel and decided to investigate. Would you happen to know anything?"

Shigure paused again to contemplate before holding out her free hand expectantly. "Five dinar; I'll tell ya for five dinar."

The priest fished into one of his many pockets and pulled out a small coin purse, pouring the coins into his hand. "I'm afraid I only have four."

"'s good enough." She snatched the coins out of his hand and shoved them into a tatter coat pocket. "But if ya want anythin' more, ya better come up with some nice trinkets." After making sure the coins were safely tucked away she straightened. "Ya mean the singing, right?"

"Y-yes."

"'s been goin' on for a few months now; at first everyone dismissed it or thought it was a ghost. Then it started visiting the ghetto where the loners live. Every night they'd go missin' one at a time, always li'l ones that couldn't fight back."

"Little ones?"

"The kids." She held her hand at her hip and started to wave it as a way to enforce her words. "The small ones only; no one over twelve and usually li'l girls, every so often a boy would go missing, but nine times outta ten it's a girl. The voice visited every night, that is until one-a the boys scared it away with a fork."

"A fork?" Esther raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I di'n see it, but all the loners were talkin' abou' it. The voice tried takin' one-a the McGinty kids, ol' Jessy di'n like tha' and grabbed something from the rubbish. I heard he stabbed it righ' in the eye and it let out a blood-curling howl before it ran away. The voice stopped takin' the loners after tha' and started pullin' kids from their beds in the other part of the ghetto."

"This Jessy McGinty, where is he now?"

"Sleepin'. An' if ya wan' me to take you to 'im, it's gonna cost ya again." She held out her hand expectantly once more.

The nun nodded to her. "Shigure, we really need to speak with Jessy as soon as possible."

Shigure flexed her fingers, "then ya better pay up."

With an exasperated sigh Esther turned to her companion, hoping maybe he could convince the girl.

The priest swallowed and pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle finger. "Shigure, we don't have any more money on us. However, it'll be worth your time to help us. Tomorrow morning, can you meet us in the town square? You'll have your reward there at that time."

She went silent to consider before dropping her hand. "Just as well, Jessy sleeps like a rock. It'd have to wait for morning anyway. Don' forget the goods." She gave them a wave then disappeared back into the alley she'd come from.


End file.
